Discernment through Making
I would like to talk to you about discernment through making…
Yes, the old methods of production in craft practices, where the maker conceives and makes the object from beginning to end lead to discernment - but that is not true for industrial assembly lines where it is divided and each person does only a small part repeatedly.
In education, the Bauhaus used experiential learning with materials to teach understanding of form and material.
Today there is a certain cultural homogeneity and products look the same all over the world. In a globalized production the maker has no relationship with what he is making. For example the women who make shorts in Bangladesh never wears them and are culturally so removed from what they wear.
What do you think about playful making, making for no reason? I’m trying to develop that as a method…
Unstructured play no doubt helps creativity, but constraints help to focus. If one can do whatever one wants, there is a tendency to freeze like a deer caught in the headlights. Students need some frameworks to help them begin and learn what to see. If you take photography as an example, I’m reminded of a quote ‘ the camera is like training wheels for the eye’ I don’t remember who said this… When I give students an assignment to photograph, I give them some guidelines, a topic to focus on (example: typography on Store signs).
How do you think discernment can be built?
Discernment can be thought of as building blocks, a process. When you focus on work with intensity, then there is greater chance of success, of being able to see, have new insights. Iteration is very important. One has to make and remake the same thing several times, so that one begins to see more detail. Critique is important – to be able to see one’s own work and be able to accept critique, express one’s thoughts, ask why each time. Intuition is another good tool to build discernment, and builds awareness of what guides you, what makes you choose a composition, a color, material over another. It builds trust in your own intuition, your playfulness. Then, in retrospect one can try to analyze those decisions.
Me: I’m reminded of a Josef Albers, who says that ‘I’ve handled colour as a man should behave. You may conclude that I consider ethics and aesthetics as one’
Mechthild Schmidt: Faculty, Digital Communications and Media, New York University
Comments